The Bet
by Rachel Noelle
Summary: Gray makes a bet with Natsu. Who will win, and who'll have to wear a super mini miniskirt for two weeks?
1. Gray

**Title:** The Bet  
**Date:** 7 March, 2014  
**Words:** 2140  
**Main** **Characters:** Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Happy, Mirajane  
**Pairings:** Gray & Erza, Natsu & Lucy  
**Inspiration:** An entire week of too much Fairy Tail and not enough sleep, and way too eager to write something again.  
**Summary:** Gray makes a bet with Natsu. Who will win, and who'll have to wear a super mini miniskirt for two weeks?  
**Rating:** T

_**A/N:**__Hey guys! Thanks for reading. It's just a little one-shot I cooked up. __I hope you find something here you like here. __Some of you know me from my Bleach fanfics (I'm guessing. It is a pretty big world out there, though, so maybe not). I haven't abandoned them. I just needed a break from them for a while. And well, this developed. It seems like I always end up liking the underdog, if you will, in pairings. Oh well. Gray and Erza just has so much more potential than Gray and Juvia, as far as storyline. Whatever develops in the canon storyline will be fine, but for now, I'm going to lead the way for team GrayZa! (Right? Oh, I am so terrible at all these pairing monikers…)_

_I always reread my fics before posting, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss something. I appreciate critique. I don't appreciate bashing. :) _

_Review if you like. I always do my best to respond if you review under your username. I'll be uploading a chaptered fic soon, too, so if you like what you see here, keep an eye out for it!  
-Rachel Noelle_

**oOoOo—RN—oOoOo**

"Tch. She's just gonna turn you down, man," Gray gritted out. When exactly Natsu's request for help went from an honest "bro talk" to their usual friendly rivalry he didn't know. He thought it might have been Natsu whining _"Oh, man, who am I kidding? It's never going to work!"_

That whining usually caused Gray to start using the reverse psychology trick (_"Of course it's not you idiot!"_), which usually led to the positive results the team needed from Natsu. Make Natsu angry enough, he'll defeat whoever (and whatever) stands in his way. Or die trying.

"Oh, like you're so experienced. Ha! You can't even get up the guts to talk to _Erza_," Natsu started, singsonging the red headed wizard's name, then, imitating a girly sounding and wimpy version of Gray, _"Oh, Erza! You're so pretty! But please don't beat me to death! I loooovvveee you! Erza, you're so scary!"_

Gray fumed. His face turned redder than said beauty's hair. Natsu was really playing some chords that stung. He did like Erza. Or as Happy would put it, "He _looovvveeesss_ her!" But she was obviously not interested in him. And, he had to grudgingly agree with Natsu, she was scary as hell when she got mad. But Natsu's teasing was hitting below the belt. Gray growled a deep warning growl. "Shut up, Flame Brain! Or I'm gonna make you a popsicle!"

"Oh yeah?! Is that a challenge, Ice Princess?" Natsu countered, growling his own warning.

Gray and Natsu were beginning to butt heads when Lucy called out across the room, having only been aware of the yelling about Erza, "Hey, would you two shut up? She's almost here!"

A cold shiver ran up both young men's spines and they locked arms in a friendly embrace as Erza walked through the doors of the Guild Hall, blissfully unaware of what had just transpired. She sat herself at the bar with Lucy, Mirajane, and Levy, and descended into a conversation with the other girls.

"I tell you what, Natsu, since you don't have the balls to ask Lucy out, either, let's make this a challenge. Whoever gets their girl to agree to go out with them first wins. And the other one has to run around the guild hall wearing a maid outfit – one with a super short miniskirt, helping Mira for a whole week," Gray declared. Neither one would have simply agreed to a "first one wins!" contest. And, Gray, being equally stubborn and bullheaded as Natsu, knew he had to make it worthwhile.

Natsu grinned his creepy challenge grin, and said, "Make it two weeks, cause you're gonna lose, buddy!"

"Fine. Deal," Gray accepted.

"Um, do you two know what you just agreed to?" Elfman asked, worried.

"I sure do. I just gotta get Lucy to agree to go out with me before the stripper here can convince Erza to go out with him! She'll never say yes! I can take all the time in the world, and I'll still win," Natsu laughed evilly.

"Then why don't you act like a real man and go ask her already?" Elfman provoked.

"Oh, I'm gonna," Natsu growled happily. As though the reality of what he'd just agreed to finally hit him, he turned a funny shade of green and ran off, saying, "Right after I go do something."

Gray sighed and slumped into a chair. He was an idiot. Natsu was right. Erza would never say yes. Even if he could tell her about the challenge to try to convince her just to go along with it for a short time just so she would also get to laugh at Natsu's discomfort, she would probably beat him to a bloody pulp and tell him not to make bets he didn't stand a chance of winning. Always the voice of reason on their team. Always the enforcer. Always ready to beat him or Natsu to the ground just for looking at her wrong.

Okay, maybe she wasn't that terrible, at least not anymore. But, still. She _was_ still scary as hell when she got mad.

Gray trudged over and sat at the other end of the bar opposite the gathered females. He crossed his arms on the counter and rested his head on them. He roused from his depressive state momentarily when someone, probably Cana, hollered, "Gray, your clothes?" Some time later (it was all of fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity) Mira came up to talk to him, as always, bringing her insight and cheerful attitude.

"You won't lose unless Lucy agrees to date Natsu before Erza agrees to date you, right?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"I guess so," Gray replied dejectedly.

"Well then, I have an idea. Even if it doesn't work, you technically can't lose unless Lucy says yes, so it should still buy you some time. Maybe by then we could up the ante a little, you know, and alter the bet." Mirajane smiled again.

"I'm going to regret this, but what are you thinking?"

**oOoOo—oOoOo**

Natsu paced nervously in front of Lucy's house. Happy fluttered above him, growing concerned with each step Natsu took. "What's the matter, Natsu?" Happy asked.

"What? Oh, nothing," Natsu replied, still pacing.

"It's about Lucy, isn't it? You know I don't care if you date her. I like her a lot, too! Even though she can be mean to me sometimes, but, I probably deserve that. I'm kinda mean to her, too. I bet she'd make a great girlfriend for you!" Happy chirruped.

"Yeah, she would," Natsu replied wistfully.

Happy landed on the pavement in front of Natsu. "So, why don't you wanna go in yet? It's not like we haven't been in her house hundreds of times before. We even stay the night sometimes!"

"Yeah, I know. But… I dunno. Now it seems different. Gah! Why am I so worried about this?" Natsu moaned.

"Typical Natsu. Not scared of the meanest, ugliest monster. Gets done in by a girl…" Happy sighed.

Natsu growled angrily. "Let's just go home, Happy…"

**oOoOo—oOoOo**

The next mid morning Gray walked into the guild hall, searching for Erza. She did not appear to be there yet, so with a sigh of relief he made his way to Mira. "Well, don't you look handsome," she complimented.

Gray let a light blush settle on his cheeks. He put a lot of thought and effort into picking out his clothes for this. He wanted to look masculine and a little intimidating. And he needed all the ego boosts Mira could give him right now if he ever hoped to pull off their plan. A few of the other wizards commented on his clothes (and Cana kindly refrained from teasing him about usually being without any). He soaked up the compliments like the cold he was so familiar with, and let his confidence boost as much as possible.

Most of the guild members had filed into the guild hall by the noon hour. Natsu was lounging around pitifully, looking like he was suffering his worst case of motion sickness ever. The bet notwithstanding, he felt bad for Natsu. He was suffering the same illness, just less dramatically.

Gray started pacing in front of the bar until Mira gave him the scariest glare he'd ever seen from her and told him to sit. Gray swallowed hard. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good! Now, how about a bite to eat before she shows up?" Mira smiled cheerfully.

"No, thanks," Gray shook his head, "I don't think it'd last long."

"Chin up, Gray!" Mira encouraged him, "She'll have no choice but to say yes. And don't worry, we took care of Juvia." Mira wiggled her eyebrows. Gray decided he was better off not knowing.

Erza stomped into the guild hall at about half noon. Gray did not know what Mira had done to get Erza there, but he started regretting his decision to let her help. Erza was furious.

"Gray Fullbuster, _what_ is the meaning of this?!" Erza cried across the room. She held up some piece of paper in her hand, glaring daggers his way.

Gray swallowed his pride and put on his best acting persona. He could do this. He had costarred in a play, and been a lot better than Erza, at any rate. Acting as tough as he could muster, he began yelling back, "You know what, Erza? I'm tired of messing around like this."

"Like this?" she bellowed back, "You're tired of helping me on jobs and apparently tired of saving my ass, so now you're _billing_ me for it?"

"That's right. It's always 'Oh, Gray, help me with this job,' or 'Gray, help me walk because my leg is broken'," Gray retorted, trying to ad lib expertly. His attitude would either win the war or end his life. Either way, it would be over and done with today.

Erza stood near a wall. _'Perfect,'_ thought Gray. He covered the distance between them quickly, with Erza apparently too pissed to even move. He could feel her magic energy building up and tried to quickly get to the point.

Gray shoved his hands in his pockets as he strode the last few steps. Pulling a move he had seen work for Loke a few times, he slammed one fist into the wall just above Erza's shoulder, inches from her head. He inwardly wrenched in pain. Loke had never slammed the wall, just casually put his palm there.

"Let me tell you what, Erza. I'm tired of all this 'friends' business. I don't get any kind of benefit I want out of it. Instead it's always guilt trips and death threats. So yeah, I tallied up a bunch of stuff I've done for you the last few months, and now, I want my payment. Cause you see, I don't want to be your _friend_ anymore," he growled, leaning close to her ear, dropping his voice to a whisper.

Erza still had enough magic power gathered to beat the shit out of him if he made one wrong move. She seemed to be too stunned as yet to do anything.

"You see," he whispered, his low growl (he hoped) changing from threatening to seductive, "I'm tired of _just_ being your friend." He grabbed Erza's face in his hand, more forcefully than he intended, and with all the gentleness and courage he could muster pressed his lips to hers. She remained stoic and cold, and he pulled back after only a few moments.

He really was a fool.

"You're tired of helping me, of your own free will, to complete missions and get healing after I've been injured, and you want me to repay you with my _body_?" Erza spat, disgusted and deeply hurt. "I thought you were a better person than that."

Gray's eyes widened fearfully. "What?! No! That's not what I meant! Erza, I swear! Please put the sword down and let me explain!"

Still glaring in disgust, she conceded. "You have ten seconds, Gray. Explain."

Gray quickly spilled all the details of how he had made the bet with Natsu, and Mirajane had overheard, and then the plan she'd devised, "And I really just thought I'd look cool and strong if I pulled that lame move, and I swear I didn't know what you had in your hand!" Gray was nearing tears now. "I should have known. I was such a fool." He backed away from Erza a pace, his pained and likely broken hand falling limply to his side.

Erza, losing patience, demanded, "Get to the point, Gray."

"The point? Erza, I just told you. I bet Natsu that you'd agree to go out with me before he could get Lucy to agree to go out with him. Like I said, I don't want to be _just_ your friend anymore. I'd really prefer to be your boyfriend." Gray sighed, his voice and body feeling small. "Okay, you can kill me now."

"So, let me get this straight. You went to all that trouble to try to make yourself look stronger and more masculine and worthy of me?" Erza tightened her fist on the hilt of her sword and gripped Gray's shirt collar tightly in her other hand. Gray nodded. "Tch. You could have just asked me without the theatrics." She closed the short distance this time, eliciting a cheer from the gathered crowd. Mirajane cooed in excitement for the two.

"I'm still going to give you a thrashing for all the bullshit," Erza told Gray. Gray laughed nervously. "Going to have my cake and eat it, too, today."

"Ten second head start?" Gray whimpered.

"I'm feeling generous. I get to beat you and kiss you. I'll give you twenty," she replied, her smile widening into a dangerous grin.

The only thing left behind of Gray was his clothing.

**oOoOo—RN—oOoOo**


	2. Natsu

**Title:** The Bet, Part 2  
**Date:** 10 March, 2014  
**Words:** 3325  
**Main** **Characters:** Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Happy, Mirajane  
**Pairings:** Gray & Erza, Natsu & Lucy  
**Inspiration:** An entire week of too much Fairy Tail and not enough sleep, and way too eager to write something again.  
**Summary:** Gray makes a bet with Natsu. Natsu loses and has to wear a super mini miniskirt for two weeks. Can he work up the courage to ask Lucy out?  
**Rating:** T

_**A/N: **I hope this lives up to your expectations! I had fun writing, and as long as you have fun reading, my job here is done. :)  
_

_Please don't forget to read, favorite, and review! Much love to all my readers!  
-Rachel Noelle_

_**oOoOo-RN-oOoOo **_

_**Previously, on Fairy Tail:**_

"_I tell you what, Natsu, since you don't have the balls to ask Lucy out, either, let's make this a challenge. Whoever gets their girl to agree to go out with them first wins. And the other one has to run around the guild hall wearing a maid outfit – one with a super short miniskirt, helping Mira for a whole week," Gray declared. Neither one would have simply agreed to a "first one wins!" contest. And, Gray, being equally stubborn and bullheaded as Natsu, knew he had to make it worthwhile. _

_Natsu grinned his creepy challenge grin, and said, "Make it two weeks, cause you're gonna lose, buddy!" _

"_Fine. Deal," Gray accepted. _

**oOoOo**

"Wake up, Natsu!" Gray bellowed, kicking his pink haired friend hard in the ribs. "It's the first day of your new job!" Gray cackled like an evil witch.

"Why didn't I just burn you to a crisp the first time we met?" Natsu groaned, rubbing his aching ribs. Gray held up the frilly pink maid's uniform, complete with extra short miniskirt and thigh high stockings, and grinned evilly at Natsu.

"I told you I'd win," Gray smirked. "Now you gotta follow through with your end of the bargain."

"What the hell?! I am not wearing that. There's no way. If I put _that_ thing on, Lucy'll never go out with me for sure!" Natsu yelled.

Gray growled. "Oh yeah? Well you're the fool who lost the bet, remember? Erza already agreed to go out with me. So you better enjoy your two weeks. I know I will." Gray cackled again.

Natsu started yelling again but Happy interrupted, "He's right, Natsu. You made the bet, now you have to be a man and follow through with it. You wanna show Lucy you're man enough to loooovvveee her, right?"

"Oh, is that so, punk? I bet there's one in your size, too. You can just put it on and help me!"

Chaos ensued as Natsu chased the blue Exceed around the room. "See you back at the guild in half an hour!" Gray called as he left Natsu's room.

**oOoOo**

"Princess Lucy knows that you lost a bet with Gray, and she asked me to help make sure you get here on time," Virgo said, her voice almost monotone, but forceful. Natsu was yelling and screaming as she dragged him by the ear, dressed to the nines in his pink maid's uniform. Their appearance in the door of the Guild Hall caused such an eruption of laughter that the buildings nearby shook.

"Dammit! Lucy! Call this thing off! Please!" he begged the blond. Lucy smiled.

"I don't know what you were supposed to do to win, but you didn't do it," Lucy said sweetly. She added to herself in an undertone, "And no one will tell me anything, either."

Natsu mumbled something that sounded like, "Going to kill that stripping Popsicle. I can't believe Lucy is helping him. That's not fair!"

"What's not fair is for you to not keep your promise like a real man," cut in Elfman.

"Gray figured you might have trouble remembering to show up dressed, so he asked me if I could lend a hand. And there is no way I was going to miss something as hilarious as this!" Lucy cried out, laughing until she doubled over from pain in her abdomen.

Natsu kept mumbling as he resigned himself to his misfortune and headed Mirajane's first order.

"Hey, waitress!" Gajeel called out when he made it into the guild around noon. "Those are some mighty frilly panties you're wearing there. Careful not to bend over too far, or all the girlies might get jealous!"

"Can it, metal head!" Natsu returned. His face had borne a permanent red since Gray kicked him awake this morning. Mirajane had twice accidentally-on-purpose knocked a glass from the counter, which shattered, and asked Natsu to clean it up. Which meant he had to show his frilly panty-covered ass to everyone when he bent over. This was beyond humiliating.

Someone else called out, "Hey, cute waitress, over here!" Natsu punched Gajeel in the face as he passed to find that the source of the voice was none other than Lucy herself.

Natsu growled lowly, gritting his teeth together, and ground out, "How can I help you?" He was trying to be nice, it was Lucy after all, but it was hard enough when she kept smiling and laughing at him. Matters were not helped any by noticing that Gray and Erza sat with her, but it was that Loke was sitting next to and being quite friendly with Lucy, and she was letting him, that threatened to push Natsu over the edge.

"Can I get some tea? And, maybe some cake?" Lucy asked kindly. Though she was amused by Natsu's current predicament, she was trying not to be overtly mean or nasty.

"Sure thing," Natsu smiled at her brightly and high-tailed it away from the table before he could beat the sense out of Loke or Gray.

Natsu toughed out his first day, always keeping an eye on Lucy and Loke, trying not to let it get the best of him. Lucy didn't like Loke. Lucy was going to be _his_ girlfriend.

"Great news, Natsu!" Mirajane said brightly as they started closing up for the night.

"What's that?" Natsu grumbled. If she had not been there all day, he would have started a riot and bolted. But her scary take-over forms kept lurking just behind that pretty face. And the threats from Erza didn't help, either.

"We sold all 700 of the figurines we made of you in the maid outfit today, and expect to sell another 10,000! Isn't that exciting? People love you!" Mirajane chirruped.

"Great. Now can I leave and take off these damned clothes?" Natsu yelled.

"Sure thing! Thanks for helping today!" Mirajane replied.

Before Natsu made it to the door, Gray stepped in. Natsu growled and lunged at the Ice wizard. "Hey, man, knock it off. I just came by to say that I think you've suffered enough, and I'm not going to make you work the entire two weeks."

"Oh, I don't think so, Ice Princess," Natsu growled, "I'm going to work the whole two weeks, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!"

Natsu and Gray quickly fell into a head butting contest. "Oh, you think so, Flame Brain?" Gray countered, "Well, I won the bet, and I say you're finished!"

"Alright, fine, but only because you begged me! And I'm still going to take you out and roast you like a marshmallow!"

"I didn't beg you! I was nice to you and let you out of your punishment early!"

"Why'd you even bother? Shouldn't you be all kissy-kissy with Erza right now?"

"Look, man, I came by now to tell you that you better get a move on with Lucy, cause Loke's been hitting it pretty hard and heavy with her these last few days!"

"He's been what? Why didn't you tell me he was sleeping with her before?!" Natsu returned, panicked and angry.

"That's not what I said, you idiot! Get your mind out of the gutter! I said he's been trying really hard to get her to like him!" Gray retorted with equal anger in his voice.

"Alright, boys, that's enough!" Erza called. Both the boys immediately stopped their fighting and dropped into their "We Weren't Fighting" routine. "If you boys are finished arguing, I'd like to say goodnight to my boyfriend."

Natsu huffed. "Tch, you make me nauseous."

"You're just jealous," Gray smirked. After a moment of watching Natsu struggle, he adopted a more serious tone. "I'll do what I can to help you, if you want."

Natsu took his time being angry with Gray before accepting. "I don't know why I'm saying 'yes', but, fine. I'll meet you in the morning."

"Gray, your clothes," Erza began.

Gray panicked before responding, "I still have them all on!"

"I was trying to say, you should give your coat to Natsu, so he doesn't have to walk through town in that outrageous outfit," Erza smiled softly at her two best friends.

"Quit laughing already!" Natsu yelled, angry again.

"Oh, uh, sure. I'll come by your place in the morning," Gray told Natsu. He let Erza take him by the hand and lead him off in quite the opposite direction of Fairy Hills.

**oOoOo**

Natsu slept through the night, but it was not what one might call peaceful. He slept so hard that when he awoke to pounding at his door it took several minutes to get his bearings about him. He pulled the blanket back up around his head. "Happy, go answer the door."

Happy yawned widely. "Natsu…" he whined.

"I'll give you an extra fish," Natsu coerced.

There was a huff and fluttering of wings as Happy flew off to open the door.

"Alright, Natsu," Gray called from the door, "You've got a problem and we're here to solve it!"

"We? Who's 'we?'" Natsu called, standing and stretching as Gray walked in with Erza and Mirajane in tow.

"Hi Natsu!" Mirajane intoned happily. "I figured since I helped Gray with his endeavor, I should help you, too!"

Erza cast Gray a look that clearly stated he better start explaining things to their friend. "We were thinking maybe we could all agree to go to dinner together, and we can just sort of not show up. And we've taken care of Loke."

Mirajane giggled. "Freed put a few enchantments around him to keep him from going back to the spirit world, after we made sure he wasn't here on Lucy's power, of course!"

"Yeah, but I still feel kinda bad for him, I mean, we are friends. And that closet is so small…" Gray admitted.

"So, Natsu, this is your decision. Tell us what you want to do," Erza demanded, her tone firm but much less forceful than usual.

Natsu just stood like a deer in headlights for several minutes, four pairs of eyes focused on him. "I, uh, I got nothing," he sighed, blushing deeply. "I guess the dinner thing sounds good?"

"Ooh, I know!" cried Happy, "We should go to that new fish market! Then we can eat all the fish I want!"

"Oh, Happy, I forgot. I have a message from Carla," Erza intervened, thinking quickly, "She'd like you to meet her at your 'Secret Spot'. She just said you'd know where to find her."

Happy looked nervous. "Of course! Our secret spot!" he chirruped and flew from the window.

"Now, where were we?" Mirajane asked bemusedly. "Oh, that's right! So, here's my idea…"

**oOoOo**

"Oh, Lucy!" Mirajane called to the blond when she walked into the guild hall in the early afternoon. "I have something for you." She handed Lucy a sealed envelope, smiling brightly.

"A letter? From who?" Lucy questioned, taking the letter and examining it closely.

"I've been sworn to secrecy. Sorry!" Mirajane quipped.

Lucy opened the letter and had a small panic attack. "Ohmigod! I have to meet someone tonight at 7, at some little bistro in town. I don't think I've ever heard of the place," Lucy freaked out. "Man, I hope it isn't Loke…"

"Would it really be so bad if it was? I mean, he's obviously attracted to you," Mirajane queried.

Lucy blushed heavily. "It's not that he's not hot or anything, but, he's just not, um, who I'm interested in."

"I bet I know who it is," Mirajane winked conspiratorially.

"You know what, I'm just going to go get ready for tonight," Lucy said nervously before vanishing from the guild hall.

"Well, that went quite well!" Mirajane praised her work.

**oOoOo**

Natsu sat at a table in the little hole in the wall bistro Mirajane had 'recommended', twiddling his thumbs nervously. It was already 7 o'clock, and Lucy hadn't shown yet. What if she didn't come at all? What if Mira had told her who she was meeting and she decided to stand him up instead? What if she got lost or attacked on her way here?

He was considering ordering a shot of something strong when he noticed a blond head near the door of the restaurant. Studying the figure of the person, from the profile of her face and the outline of her hips and bottom, he knew it had to be Lucy. Natsu sighed in relief. She was here now. Now he could worry about feeling awkward in the clothes Mirajane and Erza had picked out for him. He thought he looked like Loke, except with pink hair, and that made him uncomfortable. He didn't really like the idea of being compared to Leo.

Lucy was directed to her table, and when she turned to look at Natsu she paled. Natsu grinned his usual goofy grin and waved to her. Natsu could sense that she was nervous, which made him nervous as well. She approached the table wearing a pretty blue dress with her hair tied back in a matching hair tie.

Natsu remembered what Erza and Mirajane had drilled into his head earlier in the day and stood to pull Lucy's chair out. She whispered a quiet, "Thanks," and sat cautiously.

When he returned to his own seat the only thing he could think to say was, "Hi, Lucy."

"Um, hi, Natsu," she smiled back nervously.

Several nervous and silent moments passed between them. A waiter came to their table to get drink orders, which Natsu thanked the heavens for, since it gave him an opportunity to ease the tension in the air. "Order whatever you want, Luce, it's all on me tonight!" he smiled happily.

Lucy perked up, grinning. "In that case, I'll have a glass of wine. What do you recommend?" she asked the waiter.

Natsu let them discuss before the waiter turned to him patiently. "Oh, uh, I'll have the same," he grinned. If Lucy knew what she was talking about, so be it, but he didn't have a clue. He could condense his knowledge about wine to three simple things: some were red, some were white, and some were pink.

"So, uh, Natsu…" Lucy began, nervous. "The, uh, note I got today, that was from you, right?"

"What note?" Natsu started. Then it hit him. Of course! Mirajane was writing something, and she read it back to him. It said, "My Beautiful Lucy, Please meet me at 7 o'clock tonight at the bistro café in the market section. Sincerely, Your Secret Admirer."

Natsu scratched his head in a nervous gesture. "Oh, that note? Um, I might have had some help with it…"

Lucy smiled sweetly. "You know, I've been so nervous today, thinking it might have been Loke who sent me that," she began. Natsu noticed a twinge of uncertainty and jealousy at her words. "But, I'm really glad it was you."

"You are?" Natsu questioned, his uncertainty and jealousy dissipating by the moment.

"Like you wouldn't believe. Loke was starting to drive me crazy," Lucy said, smiling brightly again.

"Yeah, he's a weirdo sometimes," Natsu replied.

For the remainder of the meal, they skirted the issue of why one or the other was there. The anxiety of the evening continued to grow steadily, so that when the time came to pay the bill Natsu wanted to just throw some money on the table and bolt out of the restaurant. But that wouldn't accomplish anything. Especially not since he intended to get only one thing done tonight.

If Gray could ask Erza, why in hell was he having such a hard time asking Lucy? At least Lucy wasn't the scariest woman in the guild.

Natsu recalled something else from his crash course that morning: walk her home. So when they stood from their table, both awkwardly avoiding one another's gaze, Natsu asked sweetly, "Mind if I walk you home, Luce?"

Lucy swallowed hard, nervously telling him, "Sure. That would be fine."

The restaurant was on the opposite side of town from Lucy's home, Natsu now realized. The crafty she-devil sure knew her stuff.

The pair began walking slowly down the sidewalk. After walking a few blocks in silence Lucy tripped on a rock and lost her balance, only to reach out to grab the hand Natsu offered. There was a tingling sensation like nothing Natsu had ever experienced before shooting up his arm. If just the touch of her hand in his could make him feel this giddy, what could kissing her do?

Lucy let go of Natsu's hand when she righted herself. Natsu frowned at the loss of contact. Biting her lip, she sighed a small sigh and rejoined his hand with hers. Natsu did not pull away. Rather, he intertwined their fingers together and unconsciously tugged her closer to him.

They traveled another dozen or so blocks before Lucy asked, "So, Natsu, just why exactly did you ask me to meet you tonight? It seems like you went to a lot of trouble just to feed me."

The duo came to a stop outside a flower shop. Natsu laughed nervously. "Um, well, you know that bet I made with Gray?"

"Just that you lost it," Lucy returned, her eyes looking crestfallen.

"Well, he kind of ganged up on me with Mira and Erza, to, uh, finish up my end of the bargain…"

"But I thought he said you'd done enough cross-dressing?" Lucy questioned.

"Well, yeah, but do you know what the bet was about?" Natsu asked, plucking up all his courage. Lucy shook her head. "He bet me that he could get Erza to date him, before I could, uh…" Natsu faltered. This sort of thing was so hard to say. He couldn't understand why. It was just Lucy, and it was just a few little words. He knew she'd say yes, so why was it so hard to ask?

"Do what, Natsu?" Lucy breathed, her face drawing closer to his. When had he faced her like this? And when did their free hands join?

Natsu swallowed a hard lump in his throat. "Uh, get you to say yes," he whispered. He felt vulnerable and anxious, and full of lust for the busty blond in front of him.

Natsu moved his mouth nearer Lucy's neck. When she asked, "Yes to what?" he let his fanged teeth graze her neck, earning him a lustful moan, before placing a small kiss in their stead.

"That you'd be my girlfriend," Natsu finally told her before he could stand it no longer and let his mouth meet hers, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss. Her lips tasted of the sweet dessert they shared, and he wanted much more. She parted her lips and their tongues met in a clash. The kiss was sloppy and uncertain, but neither relented. Lucy could critique him on his kissing technique later.

There was a whoop of encouragement from someone passing by, and the two broke apart, looking bashfully at one another.

"So, um, is that a yes?" Natsu asked, laughing nervously and smiling brightly.

"That's a yes," Lucy agreed. Before they could elicit any input on their love lives from anyone else, Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand again and dragged him back to her apartment.

"Hey, Luce?" Natsu asked along the way.

"Yeah, Natsu?"

"Can I do that again?" he grinned mischievously.

"As soon as we get back to my apartment," Lucy answered, grinning to match Natsu.

Natsu hollered with glee, loud enough to let Mirajane know that her work was finished, and splendidly so.


End file.
